Have you wondered how information from physical devices in the real world gets communicated to Smartphone processors? Do you want to make informed design decisions about sampling frequencies and bit-width requirements for various kinds of sensors? Do you want to gain expertise to affect the real world with actuators such as stepper motors, LEDs and generate notifications?
In this course, you will learn to interface common sensors and actuators to the DragonBoard™ 410c hardware. You will then develop software to acquire sensory data, process the data and actuate stepper motors, LEDs, etc. for use in mobile-enabled products. Along the way, you’ll learn to apply both analog-to-digital and digital-to-analog conversion concepts.
Learning Goals: After completing this course, you will be able to:
1. Estimate sampling frequency and bit-width required for different sensors.
2. Program GPIOs (general purpose input/output pins) to enable communication between the DragonBoard 410c and common sensors.
3. Write data acquisition code for sensors such as passive and active infrared (IR) sensors, microphones, cameras, GPS, accelerometers, ultrasonic sensors, etc.
4. Write applications that process sensor data and take specific actions, such as stepper motors, LED matrices for digital signage and gaming, etc.

From the lesson

Stepper Motors

We are all basically made of motors, not really, but most robots are! When working with robotics, motors among several other things are some of the most important components you will chose for a project. In this lesson we will compare a variety of different motors widely used in DIY projects, especially DIY projects centered around robotics. We will take a deeper look at the stepper motor and what they are made of. We will then talk about the H-Bridge integrated circuit chip, why it is necessary for this projects and how it is used. Lastly, this lesson will guide you through the process of building a circuit capable of running a stepper motor. Schematics and code will be provided in order to gain a greater understanding of the stepper motor, as well as to facilitate the step by step instructions found in this lesson's documentation.